Puzzle ball

ABSTRACT

An improved puzzle ball made of elastic, compressible members of uniform thickness, and configured to give peripheral as well as central interlocking.

United States Patent 1191 Ragnow Feb. 5, I974 PUZZLE BALL 2,446,120 7/1948 Wiswesser 46/30 x [75] Inventor: Richard W. Ragnow, Excelsior,

Mi FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [73] Assigneez Funforms Inc Excelsior Minn. 157,153 8/1921 Great Britain 273/160 [22] Filed: Dec. 30, 1971 Primary ExaminerAnton O. Oe chsle [21] Appl' 213888 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Whitely & Caine [52] US. Cl 273/160, 46/30, 161/13, 161/16, 273/58 R, 273/D1G. 8 [51 Int. Cl. A63f 9/12 ABSTRACT [58] Field of Search..... 273/58 R, 58 K, 160; 46/30;

161/13, 16, 17 An improved puzzle ball made of elastic, compressible members of uniform thickness, and configured to give [5 6] ReferencesCited peripheral as well as central interlocking.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,783,046 2/1957 Lien 273/160 X 2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDFEB 519M 3,790,175

. l/VVE/VTOI? Richard W. Rag/rm ATTORNEYS but in three dimensions, and that there is no peripheral interlocking to maintain the rigidity of the assembled ball.

It is the object of this invention to provide an improved puzzle ball structure made up of elements which may all be of conveniently available polyurethane foam or other compressible, elastic material of uniform thickness, whereby manufacture of the members becomes a simple punching process, and in which peripheral interlocking is provided to give strength and durability to the assembled structure.

Various other objects, advantages, and features of novelty which characterize my invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed hereto and forming a part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, its advantages, and objects attained by itsuse, reference should be had to the drawing which forms a further part hereof, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a preferred embodiment of the device;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the embodiment of FIG. 1; and

FIGS. 3, 4, and are sectional views taken along th lines 33, 4-4, and 5-5 of FIG. 1.

The ball structure is shown in FIG. 1 to be made up of a set of three members, preferably punched from polyurethane foam of a suitable weight and thickness. The members are shown as circular discs to give a sub stantially spherical ball when assembled, but it will be appreciated that the principle of the invention can be applied to produce other three dimensional configurations. For convenience of illustration, the three members have been shown to be punched from material of three different colors, but this is a matter of choice with the designer. The members or discs centrally interlock with one another, but they also have peripheral interlocking parts which give improved peripheral strength and eliminate the need for varying thickness in the elements.

Member B is made of blue material and is seen to have a central cruciform opening and a plurality of peripheral notches 11a, 11b, aligned with the legs of opening 10. Member Y is made of yellow material, and is seen to have a central rectangular opening 12 corresponding to one leg of opening 10 in location and dimensions, a pair of peripheral notches 13 aligned with opening 12, and a pair of further rectangular openings 14 on an axis perpendicular to that of opening 12. Slits 15 extend from the outer ends of openings 14 to the periphery of the disc and form peripheral tabs. Member R is made of red material, and is seen to have an or thogonally arranged set of rectangular openings 16a, 16b, spaced from its center, and slits 17 extend from the outer ends of each of these openings to the periphcry of the disc which form peripheral tabs.

The transverse dimensions of notches 13, notches 11a, and the aligned legs of openings 10 and 12 are equal to the thickness of member R. The transverse dimensions of openings 16b, notches 11b, and the aligned legs of opening 10 are equal to the thickness of member Y. The transverse dimensions of opening 16a and 14 are equal to the thickness of member R. The lengths of slits 15 and 17 are equal to the depths of notches 11 and 13. The lengths of openings 16a are equal to the spacings between notches 11a and opening 10, the lengths of openings 16b are equal to the spacings between notches 13 and opening 12, and the lengths of openings 14 are equal to the spacings between notches 11b and opening 10.

To assemble the ball, disc R is compressed and inserted into opening 12 of disc Y, arranging it so that the tabs formed by the sides of slits 17 engage notches 13. The assembled discs Y and R are then compressed and inserted into opening 10 of disc B so that the tabs formed by the sides of slits l7 engage notches 11a, and tabs 15 engage in notches 11b. The spherical configuration of the ball is now established and maintained both centrally and peripherally.

Numerous objects and advantages of my invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, and the novel features thereof are pointed out in the appended claims. The disclosure, however, is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size and arrangement of parts, within the principle of the invention, to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a ball structure made up of three centrally interlocking flat discs of substantially uniform thickness and of elastic, compressible material, said discs being in mutually orthogonal relationship, the improvement which comprises a set of four equally angularly spaced peripheral notches in the first disc, a set of two diametrically opposite peripheral notches and two diametrically opposite peripheral tabs in the second disc, and a set of four equally angularly spaced peripheral tabs in the third disc, wherein each set of tabs is formed in a disc from a rectangular opening spaced radially from the center of the discs with a radial slit extending from the radially outermost end wall of the rectangular opening through the periphery of the disc, thereby forming a set of tabs, each set of tabs having a height equal to the length of the radial slit and a width equal to the length of the radially outermost end wall of the rectangular opening to thus engage the sides and the bottom of a peripheral notch in a coacting disc, the slit and rectangular opening thereby facilitating the engagement of the set of tabs which comprise tab elements on opposite sides of the radial slit in one disc with a notch in a coacting disc which is orthogonal to the said one disc, said notches and tabs being positioned for interengagement when the discs are centrally interlocked to oppose relative peripheral movement therebetween.

2. The structure of claim 1, in which the central interlocking of said discs is accomplished by means including a central cruciform opening in said first disc and a central rectangular opening in said second disc, said openings being aligned with said notches. 

1. In a ball structure made up of three centrally interlocking flat discs of substantially uniform thickness and of elastic, compressible material, said discs being in mutually orthogonal relationship, the improvement which comprises a set of four equally angularly spaced peripheral notches in the first disc, a set of two diametrically opposite peripheral notches and two diametrically opposite peripheral tabs in the second disc, and a set of four equally angularly spaced peripheral tabs in the third disc, wherein each set of tabs is formed in a disc from a rectangular opening spaced radially from the center of the discs with a radial slit extending from the radially outermost end wall of the rectangular opening through the periphery of the disc, thereby forming a set of tabs, each set of tabs having a height equal to the length of the radial slit and a width equal to the length of the radially outermost end wall of the rectangular opening to thus engage the sides and the bottom of a peripheral notch in a coacting disc, the slit and rectangular opening thereby facilitating the engagement of the set of tabs which comprise tab elements on opposite sides of the radial slit in one disc with a notch in a coacting disc which is orthogonal to the said one disc, said notches and tabs being positioned for interengagement when the discs are centrally interlocked to oppose relative peripheral movement therebetween.
 2. The structure of claim 1, in which the central interlocking of said discs is accomplished by means including a central cruciform opening in said first disc and a central rectangular opening in said second disc, said openings being aligned with said notches. 